You might remember that I made this little mouse house and its two tiny occupants for my sister's birthday last month..well thinking ahead i took pictures as i sewed and now I can give you all a seriously cute little mouse tutorial; here goes.

You will need the pattern, mouse coloured felt - brown, grey, white, cream - scrap pink felt for ears and tail, embroidery floss to match your felt (i worked with two strands) large black seed beads, some wool stuffing and a few small coins or metal washers (or a small stone or something) to weight the mouse (I am hesitant to use grains because real mice might nibble on them...)

Download my free pattern from scrib, click here. I find it easier to glue the pattern to an old cardboard box and then cut out the pieces before tracing onto the felt.

Once you have cut out your felt start sewing the two main body pieces together from point B (shown) to A; I used blanket stitch.

When you reach point A (the nose) you need to add in your tummy panel. Stitch first down one side A to C, finish off the thread and hide your knot. Then, with a new thread, begin stitching down the other side from point A to C.

Continuing on with the same thread add your base piece by stitching around the curved sides A to B then B to C.

BUT don't stitch too quickly! you need to put in your tail at point B - so a few stitches short of the back centre seam - needle still threaded and attached to the body of your mouse - pick up your tail and run a couple of tiny straight stitches across one of the short ends

pull the thread tight and poke the gathered end inside your mouse at the centre back. Continue blanket stitching, catching in the tail on both sides of the centre, until you reach point C.

your mouse should now look a bit like this:

Stuff it with wool, til it is reasonably firm. Before you close it up at the base poke in your weights. I used 1967 one and two cent Australian coins. One and two cent coins were discontinued in 1991 and withdrawn from circulation but I still have a few around - who knows my sister's mice might be worth quite a bit one day!

Nearly done - just ears, eyes and wiskers to go!

If you still have plenty of length left on your thread just poke your needle up through the body of the mouse and come out where you would like an ear to go. (if you need to start a new thread thats is ok. just bury you end in the body and come out where the ear will go and secure your thread with a couple of small back stitches)

The ears are worked the same way as the tail; keeping the thread you are working with, run a few tiny straight stitches along the flat side and pull to gather then attach securely

Push your needle through to the other side and repeat with the second ear.

Poke your needle back in again this time coming out where you want to place the first eye - secure the bead and go through again, out the other side to stitch on the second eye.

ok poke your needle back in again and come out right on the tip of its nose. You are going to sew a few large loops for whiskers - make sure you secure your loops in the centre each time so they won't pull loose.

tie a knot with the needle, to end off, right on the tip of its nose and (this is the last time we poke the poor creature I promise) poke your needle back inside coming out its tummy (or somewhere) cut your thread close to the body as you can and the end should disappear neatly inside (never to be pulled and unravelled)

Thanks Momma Rae. I promised my sister hers would be a one and only, but i can tell you i got the how to idea from Living Crafts Magazine...a fall issue. I think last year...I'll check and get back to you here.

Maureen - the issue shows you how to make a small felted pumpkin with a bottom and a lid...I got much bigger and creative with the idea from there - it doesn't show you how to make the house - sorry if i confused you.Or even mice Wollies :)

And a seriously delightful tutorial. Charming! Every time one of my children went off on some kind of junket away from home - scout camp, an archaeological dig in Wales, a two years' trip to Argentina, I made them a little felt animal - a tiny green frog that surprised me with its charm, a little pony with beaded tack, a bitty wolf, and a bitty replica of our collie. There is charm native to felt, and to small - and to the tiny icons that remind our loved ones that they are, indeed, remembered and cherished.

me again ..Excellent instructions..many Thanks... worked great younger daughter 7 (who was home ill ) managed to make a mouse (with a bit of help) in 45 minutes waiting for her sister to come home..it came out really well..the weighted base is especially nice..now she's making a bed, house and a museum...!!! for said mouse (all out of assorted cardboard boxes and duct tape lol)

Oh Yay Val I am so pleased.. perhaps it will be a girl mouse and before you know it there will be ten little meece all over her bed. i hope she is feeling better. AND you are right the eyes really make the difference. i was in teh pet shop today and was thinking i should make a white one with little pink eyes...

great pattern! I am working with it now the only thing that confuses me is this line "You are going to sew a few large loops for whiskers - make sure you secure your loops in the centre each time so they won't pull loose." How should I secure the loops? knots? back stitching? is there a trick I don't know?

Hmm MJ...any or all of those methods would probably work. I think that when I made a loop i backstitched then made a loop on the second side and backstitched again (It has been so long!) you really only need one loop on each side because if you work with 2 strands of floss whe you cut open the loops you will have four individual whiskers and the mice are so tiny they don't need more than that....you could also backstitch and cut each time rather than making a loop. Sorry I don't think i have been very helpful.

G and G Spell, if you hover over the 'free pattern from scrib text' it will come up with hyperlink.. but to make it very easy for you copy and paste this link into your browser. http://www.scribd.com/doc/33840430/Seriously-Cute-Mouse Happy stitching.

I am 52 yrs old. When I was around 7 or 8 we made felt mice just like this, but with long tails and a paper clip inserted on the belly. We used them as cute book marks. We clipped the mouse to the book cover and used the long tail to mark the page. Always thought these were the cutet things!